BÀI GIẢNG KHÍ TƯỢNG THỰC HÀNH CHƯƠNG 10

CHAPTER 10 Observation of Sea Ice

CHAPTER 10 Observation of Sea Ice
Any ice resulted from the freezing of the sea surface is called sea ice. Sea ice is specified as
fast ice or drift ice, according to whether it is fastened to the seashore or drifting on the sea.
Several forms of floating ice other than sea ice may be observed at sea. River ice is encountered in
harbors and estuaries where it is kept in motion by tidal streams and normally presents only a
temporary hindrance to shipping. Iceberg is ice of land origin. Lake ice is another example of
floating ice.
Both icebergs and sea ice can be dangerous for shipping and always have some effects on
navigation. The extent of sea-ice cover can vary significantly from year to year and has a great
effect both on marine activities in adjacent ocean areas and on the weather over large areas of the
world. Its distribution is therefore of considerable interest to meteorologists and oceanographers.
Although broad knowledge of the extent of sea-ice cover has been revolutionized by satellite
photography, observations from shore stations, ships and aircraft are still of great importance in
establishing the "ground truth" of satellite observations. At present observations of floating ice
depend mostly on visual estimation. The only instrumental observations are by conventional radar
and newer techniques, such as passive microwave sensors or sideways-looking airborne radar.
However, icebergs are poor reflectors of radar energy and cannot always be detected by this
means.
10.1 Observation items
Non-instrumental observation of sea ice consists of the following items: Concentration or arrangement of sea ice
- Stage of development of sea ice
- Ice of land origin
- Bearing of principal ice edge
- Present ice situation and trend of conditions during past 3 hours
Observed results should be reported according to the format as shown in the "Guide to Ships'
Weather Reports". In order to follow the explanation of the Guide, you need definitions of
technical terms on sea ice. They will be given in 10.2 and 10.3.
10.1.1 Concentration or arrangement of sea ice
Concentration or arrangement of sea ice (referred to as "ci" in the Marine Meteorological

Logbook) is expressed by code figures from 0 to 9. And the code figures 2 - 9 are divided into two
sections, depending on:
1) Whether sea ice concentration within the area of observation is more or less uniform
(code figures 2 - 5).
2) Whether there are marked contrasts in concentration arrangement (code figures 6 9).

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10.1.4 Bearing of closest part of the principal ice edge
This item (referred to as "Di") is supposed to be on the closest part of the ice edge from your ship.
According to the reported code figures for concentration and stage of development, . it will be
clear whether the ship is in ice or within 0.5 nautical mile from the ice edge. If the ship is in open
water and more than 0.5 nautical mile from the ice edge, the ice edge will be assumed to be
aligned at right angles to the bearing which is reported.

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CHAPTER 10

Observation of Sea Ice

slush and shuga. These types of ice are composed of ice crystals which are only weakly
frozen together (if at all) and have a definite form only while they are afloat.
Frazil ice: Fine spicules or plates of ice, suspended in water.
Grease ice: A large stage of freezing than frazil ice when the crystals have coagulated to
form a soupy layer on the surface. Grease ice reflects little light, giving the sea a matt

appearance.
S_l_u_s_h: Snow which is saturated and mixed with water on land or ice surfaces, or as a
viscous floating mass in water after a heavy snowfall.
Shuga: An accumulation of spongy white ice lumps, a few cm across; they are formed from
grease ice or slush and sometimes from anchor-ice (submerged ice attached or anchored to
the bottom, irrespective of the nature of its formation) rising to the surface.
(b)

Nilas: A thin elastic crust of ice, easily bending on waves and swell and under
pressure, thrusting in a pattern of interlocking "fingers" (finger rafting). Has a matt
surface and is up to 10 em in thickness.

Dark nilas: Nilas which is under 5cm in thickness and is very dark in color.
Light nilas: Nilas which is more than 5cm in thickness and rather lighter in color than dark
nilas.
Ice rind: A brittle shiny crust of ice formed on a quiet surface by direct freezing or from
grease ice, usually in water of low salinity. Thickness to about 5 cm. Easily broken by wind
or swell, commonly breaking in rectangular pieces.
(c) Pancake ice (see drift ice)
(d)

Young ice: Ice in the transition stage between nilas and first-year ice, 10-30 cm in

thickness. May be subdivided into grey ice and grey-white ice.
Grey ice: Young ice 10-15 cm thick. Less elastic than nilas and breaks on swell. Usually rafts
under pressure.
Grey-white ice: Young ice 15-30 cm thick. Under pressure more likely to ridge than to raft.
(e)

First year ice: Sea ice of not more than one winter's growth, developing from young ice;

thickness 30 cm - 2 m. May be subdivided into thin first-year ice (white ice), medium firstice and thick first-year ice.

Thin first-year ice (white ice): First-year ice 30-70 cm thick.
Medium first-year ice: First-year ice 70-120 cm thick.
Thick first-year ice: First-year ice over 120 cm thick.
(f)

Old ice: Sea ice which has survived at least one summer's melt. Most topographic

features are smoother than on first-year ice.
(2
)

Melting stage
(a)

Puddle: An accumulation of melt-water on ice, mainly due to melting snow, but in the
more advanced stages also to the melting of ice.
Initial stage consists of patches of

melted snow.
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CHAPTER 10 Observation of Sea Ice

(b) Dried ice: Sea ice that was earlier at the flooded ice stage from the surface of which meltwater has disappeared after the formation of cracks and thaw holes. During the period of
drying, the surface whitens.
(c) Rotten ice: Sea ice which has become honeycombed and which is in an advanced state of
disintegration.

(d) Flooded ice: Sea ice, usually first -year ice flooded by melt or river water layer.
(3) Fast ice
Sea ice which forms and remains fast along the coast, where it is attached to the shore, to an
ice wall, to an ice front, between shoals or grounded icebergs. Vertical fluctuations may be
observed during changes of sea level. Fast ice may be formed in situ from sea water or by freezing
of pack ice of any age to the shore, and it may extend a few metres or several hundred km from the
coast. Fast ice may be more than one year old and may then be prefixed with the appropriate age
category (old, second-year, or multi-year). If it is thicker than about 2 m above sea-level it is
called an ice shelf.
(4) Drift ice (Floating ice)
(a) Drift icef Pack ice: "drift ice" is used in a wide sense to include any area of sea ice, other
than fast ice, no matter what form it takes or how it is disposed. If the ratio of sea ice
concentration is more than 7/10, you can also use "pack ice" which meant drift ice before.
(b) Pancake ice: Predominantly circular plates of ice from 30cm to 3m in diameter, and up to
about IDem in thickness, with raised rims due to the pieces striking against one another. It
may be formed on severe conditions of swell, of grey ice.
(c) Floe: Any relatively flat piece of sea ice 20m or more across.
(d) Ice cake: Any relatively flat piece of sea ice less than 20 m across.
(e) Floeberg: A massive piece of sea ice composed of a hummock, or a group of hummocks
frozen together, presenting a separate floating ice fragment in ice-free water or among
separate ice fragment. It may protrude up to 5 m above sea-level.
(f) Ice breccia: Ice of different development stages frozen together.
(g) Brash ice: Accumulations of floating ice made up of fragments not more than 2 m across,
the wreckage of other forms of ice.
(5) Ice of land origin
(a) Glacier ice: Ice in, or originating from, a glacier, whether on land or floating on the sea as
icebergs, bergy bits or growlers.
(b) Ice shelf: A floating ice sheet of considerable thickness showing 2-50 m or more above
sea-level, attached to the coast or a glacier. Usually of great horizontal extent and with a level
or gently undulating surface. Nourished by annual snow accumulation at the surface and

often also by the seaward extension of land glaciers. Limited areas may be aground. The
seaward edge is termed an ice front.

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(c) Calved ice of land origin:
Iceberg: A massive piece of ice of greatly varying shape, more than 5 m above sea-level,
which has broken away from a glacier (a mass of snow and ice continuously moving from
higher to lower ground or, if afloat, continuously spreading), and which may be afloat or
aground.
Berg)' bit: A large piece of floating glacier ice, generally showing less than 5 m above sealevel but more than 1 m and normally about 100 - 300 m2 in area.
Growler: Smaller piece of ice than a bergy bit, often transparent but appearing green or almost
black in colour, expending less than 1 m above the sea surface and normally occupying an
area of about 20 m2•

10.2.2 Terms related to sea ice development (1)

Concentration of sea ice
Concentration is the ratio expressed in tenths describing the amount of the sea surface covered
by ice as a fraction of the whole area being considered.
(a) Compact pack ice: Floating ice in which the concentration is 10/10 and no water is
visible.
(b) Very close pack ice: Floating ice in which the concentration is 9/10 to less than 10/10. (c)
Close pack ice: Floating ice in which the concentration is 7/10 to 8/10, composed of floes
mostly in contact.
(d) Open pack ice: Floating ice in which the ice concentration is 4/10 to 6/10, with many
leads and polynyas, and the floes are generally not in contact with one another.

(e) Very open pack ice: Floating ice in which the concentration is 1/10 to 3/10, and water
preponderates over ice.
(f) Open water: A large area of freely navigable water in which sea ice is present in
concentrations less than 1/10.

(2) Arrangement
(a) Ice field: An area of pack ice more than 10 km across.
Ice patch: Accumulation of floating ice less than 10 km across in free water or among ice in
smaller concentration.
Strip: Long narrow zone of floating ice, about 1 km or less in width, usually composed of
small fragments detached from the main mass of ice, and run together under the
influences of wind, swell or current.
(b) Ice edge: The demarcation between the open sea and sea ice of any kind, whether fast or
drifting. It may be termed compacted or diffuse.
(c) Ice boundary: The demarcation between fast ice and drift ice (pack ice) or between areas of
drift ice of different concentrations.

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CHAPTER 10 Observation of Sea Ice

(3) Openings in the ice
(a) Fracture: Any break or rupture through very close pack ice, compact pack ice, consolidated pack
ice, fast ice, or a single floe resulting from deformation processes. Fractures may contain brash
ice and/ or be covered with nilas and/or young ice. Length may vary from a few metres to many
km.
(b) Lead: Any fracture or passage-way through sea ice which is navigable by surface vessels.
(c) Polynya: Any non-linear shaped opening enclosed in ice. Polynyas may contain brash ice
and/ or be covered with new ice, nilas or young ice; submarines refer to these as skylights.

Sometimes the polynya is limited on one side by the coast and is called a shore polynya or
by fast ice and is called a flaw polynya. If it recurs in the same position every year, it is called
a recurring polynya.

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The JMA provides VOSs with the following materials free of charge:

Guide and tables for weather observation
Guide to Weather Observations for Ships
Guide to Ships' Weather Reports
Ships' Weather Code Card
Table for Finding the Dew-point Temperature
JMA Cloud Plate
Beaufort Scale of Wind Force

Materials for making weather observation reports
OBSJMA (Software on CD-ROM) and empty disks for storing the data
Operation Manual for OBSJMA
Ship's Weather Observation Field Note for OBSJMA
Marine Meteorological Logbook
Envelope to send logbooks or floppy disks (postage free within Japan)

Brochure
Marine Meteorological Observations and the Services of Port Meteorological Officers
Guide to Wave Chart
Marine Meteorological Information Services for Shipping and Fishing

Bulletin

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